How Does Domain Generation Algorithm Work

When you enter a domain name in your web browser it first sends a request to a global network of servers that form the domain name system dns.

How does domain generation algorithm work. For a dga to be functional idempotence on domain generation is required. The seed is a piece of information accessible to both the bot herder and the infected host now acting as a bot. The program defines a function with the same name generate domain which accepts current year month which influence the domain generation algorithm the function reserves some space on the stack for the domain variable which is 25 bytes long so it can hold the actual.

I ve also written a c program that uses the same dga algorithm for generating the domain names which can be seen below. To understand how domain names actually work we will take a look at what happens when you enter it in your browser. Both malware instances spread on various devices and the hacker controlled software should be able to run the algorithm and produce the same values at a given time.

A basic implementation uses 3 specific parts. Domain generation algorithms dga are algorithms seen in various families of malware that are used to periodically generate a large number of domain names that can be used as rendezvous points with their command and control servers the large number of potential rendezvous points makes it difficult for law enforcement to effectively shut down botnets since infected computers will attempt to. Attackers developed dgas so that malware can quickly generate a list of domains that it can use for the sites that give it instructions and receive information from the malware usually referred to as command and control or c2.

In order to form a possible domain name. All dgas are based off of a static and dynamic seed which ensures that the domains are constantly changing. Domain generation algorithms create a constantly moving target that cyber defenders struggle to successfully hit with a blocklist.

Later that year conficker made dga a lot more famous. A domain generating algorithm dga is a program or subroutine that provides malware with new domains on demand or on the fly. Part of this is due to how the algorithm is set up and how easy they are to update.